Refrigerator cabinet support



S. M. SCHWELLER REFRIGERATOR CABINET SUPPORT Filed Jan. 28, 1955 Patented Sept. 24, 1935 UNHTED STATE orion REFRIGERATOR. CABENET SUPPORT Application January 28, 1933., Serial No. 654,049

2 Claims.

I'his invention relates to reirigerating apparatus and more particularly to cabinets and supporting members for the cabinets.

During the manufacture of refrigerator cabin nets, it has been found desirable to provide a supporting means for the cabinet during the time it is being Worked upon. The most convenient form of supporting surface is that which is ordinarily termed a glide, that is, a rounded knob of some sort which is provided on the bottom of the cabinet. While this glide is also suitable for supporting the cabinet when sold, it has been found that the public demands a swivel caster or more often a leg of some sort which supports the bottom of the cabinet at a sufficient height so that the space beneath the cabinet may be cleaned with little trouble. It has been found undesir able to place a glide on the bottom of the cabinet during manufacturing and then removing the glide at the completion of the building of the cabinet and inserting in its place either a caster or a leg. This is objectionable for the reason that it entails extra work and prevents uniformity in the output. It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a cabinet which has a lower supporting structure so that a glide, a swivel caster` or a leg may easily be provided thereon without removing any xed part from the cabinet.

A more specic object of my invention is to provide a cabinet with a lower supporting plate having a glide upon its surface but which may also receive a swivel caster or a leg.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following panying drawing, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the lower portion of Fig. 1 taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 3 is a 'sectional view along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. 45 Referring to the drawing, there is disclosed in Fig. l a refrigerator cabinet 2Q having a food compartment closed by a suitablecompartment door 2l and a machinery compartment below the food compartment which is closed by a cover 22. Beneath the bottom of the cabinet 2E) there are provided legs 23, one at each corner of the cabinet.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, wherein one of the legs 23 is shown in detail, it will be seen that each of the legs 23 are mountdescription, reference being had to the accom-l 'ed upon what is ordinarily termed a caster plate 2Q. This caster plate 24 has a generally square shaped base of heavy sheet metal which is fastened to the bottom of the cabinet by suitable means such as the wood screws 25, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3.

When the cabinet is being manufactured, it is very important that the cabinet be provided with a suitable supporting means so that the bottom portion of the cabinet will not be damaged by 10 being handled or moved about. For this reason the caster plate 24 is mounted on the bottom portion of the frame i5 of the cabinet in an earlier stage of manufacture. In order to make the caster plate Zi a better supporting medium, the central portion of this plate is pressed outwardly to form a glide surface 26. In this way a very desirable supporting surface is provided for the cabinet during the greater part of its manufacture and assembly, thereby protecting the bottom portion of the cabinet. If desired, this glide is adequate for supporting the refrigerator cabinet after it is sold and installed in the home of the user.

It has been found desirable to manufacture the 25 cabinet in this form and ship the cabinets merely with the caster plate and glide to the point at which the cabinets are to be distributed. The cabinets may be shown at the sales room either with the leg or with the caster. When a cabinet is sold the buyer may indicate the choice as to whether she desires to use the glide, a swivel caster or a leg for her refrigerator.

In order to make the manufacture of the cabinets uniform and in order to give the buyer a 35 very wide option as to this feature Without any greater increase in manufacturing expense, I provide a caster socket 2l which has its lower end provided with a bead 28 and a flange 29 which extends through an aperture in the depressed center of the glide portion-2S. The protruding portion of the flange 29 is bent over the edges of the aperture 3G in the glide portion so that the caster socket 2l is properly fastened and becomes the integral part of the caster plate 243. The caster socket is further provided with an inner retaining spring 3! which is adapted to retain a swivel caster such as the caster 32 shown in dotted lines. The caster socket 2l extends up into the bottoni portion o f the cabinet which is provided with a suitable recess 33 for receiving the caster socket. In this way the caster plate 2li is provided with both a glide and a caster socket for receiving a swivel caster at very little additional cost.

In order to satisfy the customer who desires a cabinet provided with legs, the caster plate is also provided with fastening means so that a leg such as the stamped sheet metal leg 23 may be fastened thereto. For this purpose I have provided a bent-up lip 35 which is struck out from the caster plate 24 and I have also provided threaded apertures 36 which are adapted to receive the thumb screws 31. The heavy sheet metal leg is provided with a generally squareshaped flat upper supporting surface 39 having a beveled corner 40 engaged by the lip 35 and an aperture 4| provided with a ange which surrounds the glide portion 26 on the caster plate 24. The thumb screws 31 are provided with shoulders which engage the top plate 39 and fasten the leg 23 to the caster plate 24.

It will therefore be seen that by merely pushing the caster pin into the caster socket a swivel caster can be applied to the cabinet and the same may be easily removed from the cabinet by merelypulling the swivel caster out of its socket. It will also be seen that the leg 23 may be applied by merely inserting the beveled edge 4G of its top plate under the lip 35 and inserting and screwing the thumb screws 37 through the apertures in the top plate 39 into the threaded aperture 36 and the caster plate 24. It Will thus be seen that the cabinets may be made uniform in manufacture and yet the customer may be provided with three optional forms of support.

By providing facilities for both the leg and the swivel caster for each caster plate, the casters may be used when it is desired to move the cabinet around in a room and then the cabinet may be raised and the legs applied thereto.

While the form of embodimentvof the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A supporting plate having a socket connected thereto for receiving Va caster, said supporting plate also being provided with a glide concentric with said socket, and having a retaining means for connecting a leg thereto, said socket and said retaining means being constructed and arranged to selectively receive a caster and a leg.

2. A supporting plate having a means for receiving a caster, said supporting plate also being provided with a glide and having a retaining means for connecting a leg thereto, said means for receiving a caster and said retaining means 25 being constructed and arranged to selectively receive a caster and a leg.

SYLVESTER M. SCHWELLER. 

